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Results: 1 - 20 of 20
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you very much.
Good morning, Ministers. It's great to see you both again.
I'll start with Minister Bennett, if I could. Minister, talking about the $27 million that was released last week, that was previously announced funding to uncover what are believed to be thousands of indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at residential schools across the country.
Minister, why did it take two years to release that money?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
What we had been told, obviously, was that we needed to get money to the NCTR to be able to work on the registries, but our advice was that we needed to go to communities and experts to make sure that the design of the program would be respectful and meet the needs of communities. In that engagement over the last year, we were able to determine that it had to be indigenous led, community based, survivor centric, as well as culturally sensitive. They wanted the flexibility to know that whatever the community needed would be funded in a way that would indeed meet the needs of that community—things like gatherings and commemoration, research or archeological expertise. The program that was launched last Wednesday will be very flexible.
We really want communities to know that we'll be there to support them in their way forward.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
What was the delay, the fact that it was announced two years ago and that this previously announced funding all of a sudden was made ready? Was it just a coincidence that it's just all of a sudden made, or what happened?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
What happens is that you need to design the program. Then you need to go to Treasury Board, and all of that has been taking place since I met with the NCTR and with former Commissioner Marie Wilson in November of last year. We then designed the program based on the very best advice we had, and it was able to be released last week.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
You understand where I'm coming from here. It was previously announced two years ago and just got finalized, released and ready to go, but it almost seemed like it took that tragedy, that discovery, for the government to finally release the cash.
I'll move on because I do have a number of other questions.
As you know, our leader, Erin O'Toole, wrote to the Prime Minister asking a number of things, four points specifically. The one I want to ask about is the plan to address the TRC calls to action 71 through 76 and to develop a concrete action plan by July 1. Is that something the government is able to commit to?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Jamie, call 71 is a provincial one that deals with the coroners. That is not under federal purview, and on 72 to 76, as I explained, we're well on our way. It is the money that has gone to the National Centre on Truth and Reconciliation for it to be able to develop the death registries. There is also more money going forward to them as they do their important work as well as the money to go to communities that was in this recent announcement. When we look at calls 72 to 76, we really do believe that we have a plan to be able to honour what was in those calls to action.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Can you commit to that action plan—releasing it to the public and to us—that as of July 1 of this year you will have a concrete road map on how you're going to get there?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Absolutely, Jamie. We have a plan for every one of the calls to action that is a federal responsibility or shared responsibility and, as you know, we're either completed or are well under way with 80% of them.
Obviously, with what's happened just now, with Bill C-5 and Bill C-8, as well as Bill C-15, we are making tremendous progress on the calls to action, and we really do believe that calls to action 72 to 76 are well under way.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Well, Minister, prior to the announcement of the $27 million, that previously announced funding of two years ago—sorry to bounce back to that—how much funding has already gone out to communities to assist in investigating unmarked graves across Canada outside of that $27 million?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
As we understand it, and as you know, the Tk'emlúps community did receive $40,000 from Heritage Canada in the pathway to healing. There have been many different avenues, but this money in budget 2019 is dedicated exactly to calls to action 72 to 76.
View Jamie Schmale Profile
CPC (ON)
Minister, as you know, the Tk'emlúps first nation is paying for security and commemorations and other costs associated with the discovery of those graves. They've asked for short-term funding from the government, as I'm sure you know, to assist them with that. Is that something the government is investigating? If yes, has money been provided? If no, is there a timeline on when they might see that?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Sure.
Minister Miller and his department are providing whatever Tk'emlúps needs by way of security and mental health supports, and we will work with Kúkpi7 Casimir on anything around gatherings or the kind of commemoration they are planning.
View Marcus Powlowski Profile
Lib. (ON)
Minister, we have set aside $27 million for further investigations to see if there are—and, certainly, there will be—other graveyards or bodies found. Can you tell us...? It hasn't been that long since the bodies were discovered in Kamloops, but so far, have other indigenous groups come forward to ask for funding to look for further sites?
View Carolyn Bennett Profile
Lib. (ON)
Yes, unfortunately, Marcus, in Kamloops there had been that “knowing” for over 20 years, and they had begun that work. I think that we are already seeing requests coming from Saskatchewan and from Six Nations, and that this is, unfortunately, very prevalent. As we go across the country and see even the marked graves with the small crosses there in the cemeteries adjacent to where the schools were, it is heartbreaking, but as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said, there are just thousands, probably, of unmarked graves and remains that have yet to be discovered.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
In December, I received the answer to one of my written questions concerning the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's calls to action 81 and 82.
In its answer, the government told us that only 0.5% full-time equivalent position was assigned to implementing call to action 82, which, we will recall, involves building a monument to the memory of the victims of indigenous residential schools, in Ottawa.
I will ask the question again that I asked the other day. Do you not think that this is insufficient for implementing that call to action?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Once again, that falls within the mandate of the Department of Canadian Heritage or the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs.
Obviously, we all want things to go faster, given the events of recent weeks.
Daniel Quan-Watson
View Daniel Quan-Watson Profile
Daniel Quan-Watson
2021-06-03 11:04
Kwe kwe, ullukkut, tansi, hello, good morning.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to acknowledge that I am speaking to you today from Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton, the traditional territory for many indigenous peoples, in particular the Cree, Saulteaux, Niitsitapi, Blackfoot, Métis and Nakota Sioux.
I'm supported by my senior officials from the department, as well as by my colleague, associate deputy minister of Indigenous Services Canada, Valerie Gideon. We will be available to answer questions on many mental health and other health supports.
I would like to begin by paying tribute to survivors of residential schools, their families and their communities, and by acknowledging the ongoing impact of intergenerational trauma.
Today, our hearts are with the Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc people, survivors, families and indigenous communities across Turtle Island as they grieve the loss of these innocent children.
Tragically, the gravesite in Kamloops isn't an isolated case. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented more than 4,100 deaths of residential school students across the country. There are other known cases of unmarked graves across the country, and many more—thousands, even—will be located. This is the grim reality of residential schools.
As we reflect on this loss, we must acknowledge that this isn't a purely historical event. There are parents who are still living and who lost children, maybe even amongst those found in Kamloops.
There are surviving brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and other family members who will be wondering if their loved ones are among those who have been located. We are resolved to follow the wishes of communities and offer support, as needed, to those affected, and to memorialize those innocent souls.
The recent events in Kamloops remind us about the importance of acknowledging the legacy of residential schools and their tragic impact on first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. It is difficult to imagine the pain suffered by so many indigenous children and their families and communities. It is said that one of the children found at the Kamloops residential school may have been as young as three years old—a life that was stolen and likely buried without a proper ceremony. It's disturbing, and it should never have happened, but it did.
Many students who went to residential school never returned. They were lost to their families. They died at rates far higher than those experienced by the general school-aged population. Their parents were often not informed of their sickness and death. They were buried, away from their families, in long-neglected graves.
Although it is painful, we need to continue to search for answers. Canadians have a responsibility to know the history and legacy of residential schools, and to honour residential school survivors, their families and communities.
Archaeological and historical research was conducted about potential gravesites and cemeteries at former residential school sites across Canada in advance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. All available federal-related records were turned over to the TRC. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation now houses the reports on the deaths of students. As technology evolves, it is likely that other burial sites will be uncovered.
Identifying burial locations of children who died while attending residential schools is fundamental to providing closure for families. Significant progress is being made with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action. Approximately 80% of the calls to action under the sole or shared responsibility of the federal government are completed or well under way.
We know that we can do better. Indeed, we must. Collectively, we must chart a new path toward a Canada that honours, respects and is fully inclusive for first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Renewed relationships are fundamental to the growth and prosperity of our country.
Meegwetch, qujannamiik, marci, thank you.
Wilton Littlechild
View Wilton Littlechild Profile
Wilton Littlechild
2021-06-03 12:07
I was acknowledging and thanking you for this great, although very sad, moment for you to call a special session where we can recognize and uplift the spirit of the child's life, which in our culture is very important.
[Witness spoke in Cree]
[English]
My name is Walking Wolf, from the Maskwacis Cree territory, and I want to thank you again, first of all, for calling this special session.
I want to draw us right back to the first report that the commission made. We concluded very early, from the stories we were hearing, that this was a direct assault. The indigenous residential school policy or the Indian residential school policy was an assault on our languages, on our families, on our communities and, very importantly, on our spirituality. I want to talk about that in terms of the impact of this finding on families and communities from the perspective of not only our traditional laws, our customary laws, but also our sacred laws, especially in terms of our practice when we lose someone in our community.
I want to begin with a story about my own grandfather, Mahihgan Pimoteyw, whose name I bear now. In a epidemic, when he was a chief, he had to bury 33 members of the Ermineskin Cree Nation in one day. That obligation was passed down to my mother, and then now to me, to help our community at times of grief and mourning like we have today.
Also, I wanted to remind us that in our history we saw many gravesites, during our journey as a commission, that were outside the graveyard, because the person may have been a young person from the school who had committed suicide, and they were not allowed to be buried within the graveyard. I want to point that out also, because when I was in residential school—three of them for over 14 years—when I was 10 and 12 I lost both of my grandparents, who actually were the ones who raised me, but I was not allowed to go to their funeral. I didn't have a chance to say farewell to my grandmother or my grandfather. Now I do, through this opportunity.
The other thing I want to point out is as a commission we always had an empty seat beside us, and I have an empty seat beside me now. We would call in the child's spirit to come and join us at the hearing, to guide us, to pray with us and just to be with us to support us. Then, after the hearing, we will send the spirit free again, back to the place of forever happiness, as our old people often call it.
I want to also reflect on our own repatriation here of 17 bodies from a residential school. All that was marked on the coffin was “nine-year-old girl” or “12-year-old boy”. There was one particular one that had “6-year-old boy”, and I chose to carry that coffin to the graveyard after our ceremonies, because that's how old I was when I was taken to residential school.
We had a traditional ceremony. By that I mean we had a wake. We sang our 16 travelling songs. We had our pipe ceremony. We had our elders speak to us during the wake, and also we had our last giveaway feast. These are traditional ceremonies that are not only ceremonies but a part of our laws. We need to do this as indigenous people when we lose someone from our community. The hardest one is always when you lose a child. We were able to do that. After that, we had a memorial for four years after the burial, on the day of the burial.
I wanted to mention that this was lost to these families of 215 children and more. In my own community, there were the 17 I mentioned. Also, there were four little skeletons that were found in the old school when it was being taken down, so it hits home for me, because our school at one time was also the largest in Canada, with over 500 students from all different parts of the province.
I want to thank the leaders here in my community—the elders who had a memorial service. We've been having prayer ceremonies every day since we heard this news, because one of the Mayan prophecies is that spirituality has to come back to leadership. I mention that one of the four prophecies they made recently.
I want to thank Deputy Minister Quan-Watson, because I know the previous witness, and he follows this with respect, the teaching, in his work.
In conclusion, I want to remind us of the sacred teachings, and in this case the one I want to reflect on is one about respect. I heard it earlier in the session that this must be community led. Yesterday I was engaged with the United Nations conference on the coming decade for indigenous languages. As you know, that was one of the ones that was assaulted as well.
In saying that, the suggestion was made that this not be indigenous led but indigenous driven, because the difference between the two words is that if it's indigenous driven, then you have a hand in it and can shape the outcomes that you desire in a good way. We need to respect that teaching, as well.
[Witness spoke in Cree]
[English]
Continue the good work you are doing, and as I did in our community, I ask for everyone who is listening to pause for a moment and say a prayer for these children who now have a bright path going back to the sacred place of the ancestors.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That's all I wanted to present at this point.
View Luc Desilets Profile
BQ (QC)
Can you tell me what Mr. Major's grave looks like? Is there something that sets it apart or is it like all the others?
Jacques Borne
View Jacques Borne Profile
Jacques Borne
2021-05-10 16:28
I do not know, but, usually, whether a veteran was a general or a simple soldier, a plaque is always placed on the lawn. Everyone receives the same treatment, whether they are a soldier, general or hero.
I will look into it and get back to you.
Results: 1 - 20 of 20

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